Fade to Black

The Good
The original game in the franchise, Flashback, was a wonderful action, adventure game with a some incredible graphics, animation, music and sound effects. The ending for the first game begs a proper sequel, and I had high hopes with Fade to Black.

The Bad
Fade to Black is attempting to capitalize on the success of games such as Alone In the Dark and Tomb Raider with mixed results.
The game's interface and camera angels are too complicated and cumbersome, making it difficult to perform what should be simple movements. Poor control design is deadly in a game such as this, where quick, precise movements can make all the difference between life and death. Some gamers, myself included, are simply turned off by the over-the-shoulder viewpoint, which makes the game's problems with control and camera angles even more painful.

The Bottom Line
Fade To Black attempts to ride the coattails of successful games such as Alone In The Dark and Tomb Raider by abandoning the platformer format in favor of pre-rendered, polygons based graphics and an over-the-shoulder-perspective. What could have been a worthy sequel is dragged down by poor and unreasonably difficult interface, camera angles and character controls.